Surprise Guest, Barnes & Noble, Alligators!

Hope you're having a good weekend! Please stop by this Tuesday when I feature a new author. He's written a story for middle-grade readers, and here's the first line:

I've always thought I was dead.

I love that line! If you want to read more, come back on Tuesday!


Also, St. James Cathedral School of Orlando put on a great book fair this month at Barnes & Noble. My bb, Sandy Nawrot arranged for me to come and sign books, and the pleasure was all mine! Such talented students! Chimers, guitar players, and more!





A few days ago, I traveled deep into the jungle and held an alligator. Okay, it wasn't that deep but it was Jungle Adventures, a twenty-two acre spread that includes a natural wetland, a spring, and a beautiful stream covered by duckweed. The facility houses lots of exotic animals, including Goliath, a 1700 pound male alligator. Though I didn't know that male alligators clamp their jaws shut with 3000 pounds of pressure or that females clamp with 1500 pounds of pressure, I did shout the correct answer for how many teeth alligators have--eighty. Ha! I knew that from my research for Violet Raines. But there was more about the teeth I didn't know: Alligators' teeth are like stacked cups; there's always another tooth growing under the visible tooth. The jaw produces teeth for every socket (unless the socket suffer infection or injury) for the duration of the alligator's life. So you'll never see a pumpkin smile on an alligator.

Here is Safari Todd with some of Jungle Adventures' toothy residents:

Don't try this at home!